Mabel Ethelreid Normand, the Queen of Comedy, was born in Boston, Massachusetts (although some think it may have been New Brighton, Staten Island, New York. All sources I have seen indicate Boston, but one has surfaced that it may have been the latter. Even Miss Normand wasn't sure). on November 16, 1893. She received her formal education at St. Mary's Convent in Westport in the extreme southern part of the state.
As she entered her teen years, Mabel's parents moved the family to New York City where she caught the acting bug. She had already had a taste of it because her parents were Vaudevillians.
She entered motion pictures in 1911 just before her seventeenth birthday for her first film entitled SAVED FROM HERSELF. Her first employers were the old Biograph and Vitagraph studios which were located in NYC at the time. From the beginning she was cast in comedy roles because of her sense of humor and great timing.
Mabel made 24 more films that year among them A TALE OF TWO CITIES, PICCOLA, HIS MOTHER, and WHY HE GAVE UP. This was at a time that when motion pictures were not nearly as long as they are now. They were usually known as one-reelers.
It was while she was working for Biograph that she met Mack Sennett, under whose direction she would receive world acclaim. In those days Sennett himself was a struggling actor in the fledgling industry. D.W. Griffith, who would himself achieve world recognition, was, himself, a struggling director. Griffith bought the Biograph and moved it to Los Angeles, after signing Mabel, where the movie colony had now moved to make the majority of their films.
By 1912, Sennett had left Biograph taking Mabel with him when he formed Keystone Studios. That year Mabel appeared in 50 films of which some were THE WATER NYMPH, THE ENGAGEMENT RING, and THE TOURISTS. Movie-goers flocked to the box-office to see what adventure Mabel had in store for them that week.
By 1913, Mabel filmed 64 one-reelers. Despite the fact the films were short, it kept her extremely busy. 1914 was no less busy with Mabel again in 73 movie shorts.
In 1915, Mabel had cut short her work schedule appearing in 'only' 20 films. One film of note was MY VALET in which she appeared with Sennett and Raymond Hitchcock, the great comedic actor from the stage. Also during this time she was appearing with the great Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle in a number of comedies, including FATTY AND MABEL'S MARRIED LIFE, FATTY AND MABEL ADRIFT, and FATTY'S TINTYPE TANGLE. Each of these were hits wherever they appeared in theaters.
In 1918, Mabel appeared in a full-length movie called MICKEY. The film did two things. First and foremost, it solidified Mabel as a great comedienne, but also lifted Sennett's struggling studio out of the financial doldrums. At the end of MICKEY, Mabel signed with the, now, legendary Samuel Goldwyn at the phenomenal rate of $3,500 a week. Unfortunately for Mabel, she was on the backside of her career.
Noted for her open-handed generosity and her addiction to wild parties with alcohol and cocaine, she was becoming a shell of her former self.
While the 1920's continued to see Mabel on the silver screen, it was at a less frequent rate. When the public learned of her connection to the William Desmond Taylor murder case, she was all but washed up.
After 1921's MOLLY O', Mabel made fewer and fewer movies. In the late 1920's she had contracted tuberculosis which physically weakened her. She made no other films after ONE HOUR MARRIED in 1927.
On
February 23, 1930, Mabel died in Monrovia, California of tuberculosis. The actress known as the 'Female Chaplin'
was 37 years old.
Check out these Mabel Normand pics.
Mabel Pic 1
Mabel Pic 2
Mabel Pic 3
Mabel Pic 4
Mabel Pic 5
Mabel Pic 6
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© 1998 Denny C. Jackson dejackso@iglou.com
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